Startups from across the continent have been chosen to take part in the IMPULSE accelerator in Morocco, which helps companies in fields like agri-tech and biotech grow.
Disrupt Africa reported in July on the launch of IMPULSE by the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University (UM6P), with the support of OCP Group and its subsidiary OCP Africa.
Designed by MassChallenge, the non-profit, zero equity and impact-focused accelerator is aimed at entrepreneurs in the fields of agri-tech, biotech, nanotech and mining tech, and will help selected participants to take their startups to the next level over a period of 12 weeks
Over 350 applications were received from more than 40 countries, with 16 of those startups, representing nine different countries, selected. The programme begins on January 15, 2020, and ends on April 8 with a demo day.
Nigeria accounts for the most of these startups, with four, namely solar-powered cold room manufacturer ColdHubs, crowd-farming solution Farmcrowdy, online food store FoodLocker, and fintech startup Social Lender.
Ghana is represented by three – fintech startup Esoko, smart farming solution SAYeTECH, and farming equipment provide TroTro Tractor – and Kenya by two, in the form of Kenyan agri-tech startup eProd Solutions, and fertiliser platform Safi Organics.
Morocco also has two representatives, namely green feed producer Hydro Barley and diagnostics company Moldiag, while the rest of the cohort is made up of Ivorian bioprocess engineering company LONO, Malian IoT startup SATGRIE, Angolan agri-tech startup AGROOP, Brazilian agronomic data company DataFarm, and US-based 3D aerial intelligence platform Strayos.
